If you could get past the Beetlejuice outfit worn by Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, the unified message that five mayors sent at a press conference about the Miami-Dade COVID-19 response 
Thursday morning was increasingly critical of county Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez — who has been at odds with Gimenez over COVID measures since the very beginning of the pandemic — was joined by Gilbert, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez, who had the harshest words for his one-time golden boy, and Pinecrest Mayor Joseph Corradino, who is also first vice president of the Miami-Dade League of Cities. They basically bitch-slapped Gimenez for not reaching out to them and for having a reactionary, knee-jerk response to the COVID crisis backed by no scientific evidence.
These five mayors meet on a regular basis, Suarez said, in a wink wink sort of way that tells Gimenez que asi se portan los adultos.n Mayor Hernandez blasted his onetime ally both during the conference and then later in individual television interviews.
Read related: COVID19 rollback reveals mayor Carlos Gimenez is flying blind here
“Everything I find out I find out in the news,” Hernandez said. “That’s embarrassing. That’s not leadership.”
He has not spoken with Gimenez once since the pandemic started and seemed angry that the county mayor made such a sweeping decision without consulting the mayor of the largest cities in Miami-Dade and without the data that would be provided by contact tracing.
“Where is the evidence,” Hernandez asked, referring to the closing of restaurants as a result of the spike. 
“The evidence is in tracing and we haven’t had that tracing.
“All we’re doing is killing 80% of the restaurants,” he said.
Gimenez has said that restaurants are the only place where people are indoors and cannot wear a mask, becaue they’re eating. But he should try going to the Publix or the Whole Foods in Kendall.
“I worked with the county’s restaurants group earlier this week to produce a compromise until we can tamp down the spread and allowed outdoor dining,” Gimenez said in a statement, also adding that he compromised on gyms also, allowing them only to stay open only if their customers use masks while exercising indoors.
How likely or healthy is that?
“My administration’s goal is to continue to open up the economy in a safe manner. Unfortunately, the numbers right now are not allowing us to do so,” the statement, sent late Friday, said.
The other mayors also demanded more contact tracing, which Gimenez has really, surprise, blundered on. He said it was up to the state, but according to a since-deleted tweet by Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ spokeswoman Helen Ferre Aguirre, Mayor Gimenez has changed the parameters of his request multiple times, stalling the process.
“We need a minimum of 500 more people to do contact tracing so we can make intelligent, actionable decisions on behalf of our community,” Suarez told the media in front of City Hall. He wore a mask. “If we’re going to affect people’s livelihoods, we can’t do it without information.”
The press conference may have been precipitated, however, by the decision Gimenez made — in a vacuum, as usual — to close indoor dining spaces again, less than two weeks after they were opened (did a certain watchdog predict that?). “That is an incredibly dramatic measure,” Suarez said, adding that he wasn’t necessarily against it if it curbs infection but that the decision should have been made with information and together.
And no, it’s not a pissing match battle of egos, as one radio commentator inferred this week. It’s electeds holding another elected accountable — and it’s about time.
Suarez said that since contact tracing began, the number of positives that have been contacted by interviewers who ask where they’ve been and who they’ve been exposed to — which would, in turn, provide information on points of origin — has dwindled. From 86% on June 26 to 78% on June 29 t5o 17% on Wednesday. And even that contact tracing isn’t being done uniformly and correctly, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Read related: Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez gets F on COVID, A on coverage
Meanwhile, the department’s statistical dashboard showed that there were 11,385 new positively tested cases across Florida Thursday, almost breaking the record of 11,401 on July 3. Consistently, at least a quarter of those are in Miami-Dade.
Baby X also said he spoke to DeSantis who committed to find 500 more contact tracers.
“We needed them, frankly, two weeks ago,” said Miami Beach Mayor Gelber. “The spike is because we have no contact tracing… this should be keeping people up at night.
“That is the single best took we have to stop the spread of the virus,” Gelber said.
Other statistics the mayors offered:
- 30% of the contact tracing so far found that positives were from household infections
- 30% or more of the positives were healthcare workers
- 20% of the positives were in law enforcement
- 7% of the positives were in food service
- one third of those dying are under 60 years old
- There are 4,300 intensive care units dedicated to COVID19 patients — double from two weeks ago
- There are 175 people on ventilators — double from two weeks ago.
The Thursday morning media event was followed by a vote by 25 of the 34 municipal mayors through the Miami-Dade League of Cities to denounce the way Gimenez suddenly and unilaterally rolled back the re-opening of our economy without consulting any of them or any stakeholders in the industry.
That was followed by a phone call from Suarez to Gimenez. “Hey, dude, clue us in,” he said, sorta, asking to be given a heads up before these big decisions are made. The mayor was responsive, Suarez said on 
Hoy por Hoy, the morning news talk show on Radio Caracol 1260 AM.
“He agreed there could be better communication,” Suarez said.
The backlash has been big. There were small protests at County Hall Thursday and at the American Airlines Arena Friday. The most interesting thing about these protests — other than not knowing yet who is behind the apparently organized and well-promoted events — is that Ladra knows at least one longtime Gimenez supporter who was there.
This spanking by fellow mayors is the latest in a string of embarrassments for the onetime front runner in the congressional District 26 Republican primary. Seriously, he and firefighter Omar Blanco are about neck and neck now, sources say. Because voters have seen Gimenez fumble time and time again on the COVID response. They’ve seen how he acts unilaterally, without talking to other elected leaders in the community. Is this what he’d be like as a congressman?
Read related: Another Carlos Gimenez faux pas on COVID19 — or is he campaigning?
Even the latest, controversial “emergency executive order” was amended twice and made effective a day later than anticipated. He’s running around like a chicken with his head cut off.
Gimenez had told the press on Thursday that the mayors could join his thrice weekly conversations with 
the Miami-Dade League of Cities if they wanted to stay in the loop. Ladra doubts that there are three weekly chats where everyone could give their opinion and share their ideas on what should be done because that would be a massive time suck.
But even if it were true, that wouldn’t work since the League of Cities assigned delegate is not always a municipality’s mayor. In Miami, for example it is Hardemon, who seems disengaged, likely because he is running for county commission and doesn’t want to make waves. Suarez also said that the mayor’s chief of staff only called the League of Cities about the decision to inform them five minutes before announcing it. In other words, there was no opportunity for engagement.
Precisely because he is running for higher office, Gimenez should try more to seek consensus and bring the mayors in his county together, Suarez said.
“Better to have the support of the mayors than to not have it.”
25 mayors slap Carlos Gimenez on solo rollback, demand more contact tracing added by Ladra on
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